Judge Surillo approved of Harvey Dent's crusade for justice and was willing to hear trial for all the organized criminals pulled in by him and Jim Gordon. She judged over the trial of the criminals, most of whom were stuffed into the courtroom. Later on, her fingerprint was obtained by a henchman of The Joker by a Joker card placed in a court document. The card was given to Gordon, indicating who the Joker was targeting next.

Gordon dispatched a unit to Surillo's house and the two officers sent to accompany her were given an envelope with instructions for where Surillo should drive to. However, this had been tampered with and when Surillo got in her car and began to drive away, she opened the envelope and pulled out the piece of paper inside, which said only a single word, "Up". Sure enough, the car, with Surillo still inside, blew up in a fiery car bomb, and dozens of Joker cards hidden inside it covered the street.